(A New) Hope - COVID-19 Isn't The First Threat to Cinema and It Probably Won't be The Last

Covid-19 continues to pose a threat to countless industries. The events that have taken place this year have brought us all to a halt. Businesses closed for an indefinite period, not knowing when a return would be possible. The film industry was no exception. With cinemas closing across the world and film production being brought to a stop, the world of cinema has felt the ground fall beneath their feet. Now that we are slowly emerging from lockdown, with many cinemas having reopened on the 4th of July, what can we expect from a typical cinema experience? Will cinemas even be able to bounce back? In order to perhaps understand what awaits us, it is important to look at some of the ways cinema has been threatened in the past and see how it has adapted and bounced back.

Threats that have been posed to Cinema

● Spanish flu - Oftentimes compared to our current pandemic, the Spanish Flu was also a major threat to cinema back in the day. Cinemas shut across the UK and US and Hollywood had to cease production temporarily. After the threat of the Spanish Flu was gone, the film industry had a chance to reinvent itself, changing their marketing strategy and making cinema into an even more desirable commodity. Turning actors into stars and films into masterpieces. Studios only became bigger meaning production was later increased and that Hollywood could become the moviemaking titan it is today.

● The threat of television - At a time when cinemas were becoming increasingly less useful as a propaganda tool, the threat of television to the industry only appeared more evident. The death of cinema, for those in the industry, meant the death of film as an art form. It would not be until the blockbuster films of the late 20th century, that we would see cinemas massively populated once again.

● Streaming services - With the dawn of streaming services, cinema has become accessible to all who can, at least, afford a fiver a month. Netflix, as the pioneer of the services, has begun to attract big directors like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee to produce original features, allowing them to premiere directly on to the platform rather than having to be screened first at the cinema. This has meant for the last few years cinema has been struggling, mostly being carried by Marvel films with Avengers: Endgame surpassing Avatar’s 10-year record for highest-grossing film at the end of last year.

Cinemas are open, what now?

Since the easing of lockdown, there have been opportunities to see films on a big screen at places such as drive-ins and rooftop cinemas mostly screening classic films. However, now, as cinemas across the UK have been allowed to open from the 4th of July, many people have been left wondering what this new cinema experience is actually like. The big chains have enforced strict social distancing guidelines by running at a lower capacity and blocking off seats to avoid allowing people from sitting together. They will encourage attendees to pre-book tickets online as well as their popcorn. Sadly this will be a (hopefully) temporary goodbye to the much-loved pick ’n mix which has served us all well. Seats will be sanitised after each screening, hand sanitiser will be available throughout the cinema and viewers will be asked to scan their own tickets. You will also be asked to wear a mask although this is not yet compulsory. If you are wishing to scratch that indie cinema itch, most independent cinemas have decided to stay shut until September, when they believe they will be able to be back for good.

Production of films has been pushed back

Now, to add to the threat of streaming services, the global pandemic has also posed a new challenge for the ever-expanding, global film industry: a delay to production. The French Dispatch, Dune, Tenet, and the highly anticipated No Time to Die among many others have all been delayed to Autumn.

Christopher Nolan’s latest film Tenet has become the major motivator for the opening of cinemas; its own release having been pushed back 3 times. Since cinemas have had no new showings until August, the wisest choice was to remain closed until they could draw crowds in and make a more profitable return. Hence why many chains decided to hold off their opening until the end of July, despite the government allowing them to open sooner. Many cinemas that opened earlier were screening films that they had been showing before lockdown - audiences welcomed this as a great opportunity to watch what they might have missed on the big screen, this in itself has led Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back to top 2020 box offices in the US for the first time in 23 years.

Despite the huge turn towards streaming services this year, with the support of renowned directors, there are still major filmmakers who still understand the magic of the cinema experience. As terrible as this all may seem to cinema goers and movie lovers right now, the truth is cinema has always bounced back from whatever impending doom it has faced. Even though in a pre-pandemic world cinema was facing a slow decline, there is nothing quite like watching a beautifully shot film, with an incredible score and sound design on a big screen.